Google will forget about you every 1.5 years

[Abhi]

The news is, Google will delete your location history every 18 months. This is part of their new privacy policy. Not happy, don't worry, you can set your location history be forgotten automatically every 3 months. You can always manually delete it anytime you wish to.


 

[admin]

Possibly because California privacy act will come into effect on July 1.

 

[Abhi]

It is nice to know that some privacy measures are put into place. Otherwise, there is free reign for these companies.

 

[Jason]

Oh that is great. I already disabled most of the tracking, this will surely help me and many people.

 

[Abhi]

> @Jason I already disabled most of the tracking,

I did that once. Suddenly I started getting weird recommendations in YouTube. Once they remember about us, we get good suggestions. I know it is not a healthy practice, but when our preference is stored, it helps with the results.

 

[Jason]

> @Abhi getting weird recommendations in YouTube

Yes this happens to me all the time, but now the only issue bother me is the Paid YouTube ads.

 

[Abhi]

> @Jason only issue bother me is the Paid YouTube ads.

You are a YouTube Premium customer ?

 

[Jason]

@Abhi No i am not and i don't want to be one.

 

[phenomlab]

> @Abhi only issue bother me is the Paid YouTube ads.

Easy to get around those with a decent ad blocker. I do it all the time, and have done for years.

 

[admin]

I keep clearing my history with them every now and then. It is not productive, but I do it any way.

I often find it hard to locate it. They will never make it easy to find

 

[phenomlab]

I tend to avoid all of these issues by using a VPN

 

[Abhi]

I am sure Google can beat a VPN when it comes to find your location.

 

[Jason]

@phenomlab Don't want to deviate from the topic but just want to reply to your comment. How do you do that when ads play before or after the video starts in YouTube?

Once you search something in browser and open Google to do some search or view Youtube the related video will surely pop up no matter what settings we give

 

[phenomlab]

> @Abhi I am sure Google can beat a VPN when it comes to find your location

Not true at all. The entire point of a VPN is to conceal your location. For example, I can make it look like my location is Austria, when in fact it's the US.b

 

[phenomlab]

> @Jason How do you do that when ads play before or after the video starts in YouTube?

Simple. These are detected as ads. Any decent blocker, such as Adblock Plus week prevent these from loading. The brave browser does exactly the same. This doesn't work on mobile phones though.

 

[phenomlab]

> @Jason Once you search something in browser and open Google to do some search or view Youtube the related video will surely pop up no matter what settings we give

This is incorrect also. The learning algorithm for Google and YouTube alike is based on JavaScript. If you use a script blocker or a VPN, neither of these will work.

 

[Abhi]

> @phenomlab If you use a script blocker or a VPN,

We might need _and_ here. I have heard that if we allow JS, it makes it easy to find our location

I have once read an article where Facebook admits that it spies beyond the tab in which you are using Facebook. ie, even after closing Facebook.com , Facebook will monitor what you do in your browser. Looks like they got caught and admitted that they spy on your browser. Now I have personal experience that Google spies our file browser too. As I got some song suggestions based on hard copies I have stored on my HDD.

If Facebook can spy on our browser ( which they admitted ), I don't know why Google will be incapable of doing it.

 

[phenomlab]

> @Abhi We might need and here. I have heard that if we allow JS, it makes it easy to find our location

No, you don't. If you just a VPN, that actually masks your true location. That's it's purpose.

Additionally, using a secure browser will stop websites spying on you. If you use the chrome browser, this is well known for how much info it collects. That's why chromium exists as a standalone browser, and brave. For true privacy, don't use Windows either.

The only way to guarantee complete anonymity on the web is to use TOR. However, your location will be revealed at some point when you use an exit node to get back into the web as others know it.

 

[Abhi]

What do you think about Firefox ? Can't Google, Facebook etc collect information from it even when those websites are not in active tabs ?

Is Chromium a privacy lovers' browser ? Better than Firefox when it comes to privacy ?

 

[phenomlab]

@Abhi regardless of browser, if you installed a browser helper object or add-on for that particular browser, or works be running reach time you launch even if you don't visit the site. This is why you have to be careful which add-ons you enable.

Firefox in itself is secure, but just like any other application, has inherent weaknesses also.